She’s read (just) enough Nabokov to know where this is all heading.
THE NEXT YOUNGEST DAUGHTER BY JR BARNER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 114
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The paneling in this place is either oak or hemlock
But she can’t tell the difference,
Tucked away
With downturned gaze & scoliosis slouch,
Illuminated only by her phone’s unflattering light.
Her parents dance some distance away
To some seventies R&B hit
Dashed out by the half-drunk college kid on the
Bösendorfer in the corner.
Her younger sister clamoring on about
Boogie-boarding that afternoon
With a petite blonde from Bowness-on-Windermere
While she tanned alone on the beach.
God, she wishes, half-out-loud,
To be that innocent again.